[Alexia]

This is why I hate Dell and this annoying laptop. (128kbs MP3 - 8 seconds)

Recording of the GPU fan on my Dell Inspiron XPS.

Notice how the fan is decently quiet at first, though louder than a normal laptop. Expected for a Desktop Replacement. Then notice how it suddenly spins up to absolutely full speed. The laptop is sitting idle with nothing to warrant the high fan speed.

Why does it do this? Basically the thermal controller for the laptop freaks out and becomes non-responsive to the temperature probe thinking the temperature is in excess of 100C.

There is a quick rememdy, Function+Z resets the controller and the fan idles back to normal speeds. FN+Z is completely undocumented however. FN+Z+R also opens a BIOS like thermal control panel. Neither are documented in the manuals or online, which would be great to know. FN+Z fixes the problem only momentarilly. Sometimes I'll hit the key combination every ten seconds to make it shut up.

What is Dell doing about this? Absolutely nothing. There is no fix for the problem and they basically give the attitude that they don't care.

This is why I can't wait to get done with my MS Access/database course and trade this thing for a Powerbook.

P.S. What is RDF?

[MCQ]

Originally Posted by Alexia P.S. What is RDF?

Reality Distortion Field.

http://www.answers.com/topic/reality-distortion-field-1

[elmo]

Frist thing, The Dell Inspiron XPS is not really a laptop. it's more a Desktop that you can take with you. It Run a desktop Pentium 4 processor not a Pentium 4 Moblie or Pentium M processor. It's going to run alot hotter then a then a noraml laptop is going to run. 2nd, there are two fan's in the Inspiron XPS one for the CPU and one For the ATi video card. So, you say that the fan is run well machine is idie. Are you run a Open-GL 3D srceensaver? That would put a heavy load on the GPU. That will kick in the video card fan, but might not kick in your CPU Fan. 2nd, is the HD run when the machine is sitting in a idie state. That would work cpu and get the cpu fan to lick in. Here the thing! Because XPS came with a Pentium 4 desktop chip. The Chip runs at 100% of it bandwith all the time, that makes it used alot of power witch makes it run hotter. The Pentium 4 Moblie or Pentium M processor and the G4 in the ibook & powerbook are able to shut down most of there Bandwith saving power and making run cool even under a heavy load.

[Gargoyle]

RDF =

[Alexia]

Originally Posted by elmo Frist thing, The Dell Inspiron XPS is not really a laptop. it's more a Desktop that you can take with you. It Run a desktop Pentium 4 processor not a Pentium 4 Moblie or Pentium M processor. It's going to run alot hotter then a then a noraml laptop is going to run. 2nd, there are two fan's in the Inspiron XPS one for the CPU and one For the ATi video card. So, you say that the fan is run well machine is idie. Are you run a Open-GL 3D srceensaver? That would put a heavy load on the GPU. That will kick in the video card fan, but might not kick in your CPU Fan. 2nd, is the HD run when the machine is sitting in a idie state. That would work cpu and get the cpu fan to lick in. Here the thing! Because XPS came with a Pentium 4 desktop chip. The Chip runs at 100% of it bandwith all the time, that makes it used alot of power witch makes it run hotter. The Pentium 4 Moblie or Pentium M processor and the G4 in the ibook & powerbook are able to shut down most of there Bandwith saving power and making run cool even under a heavy load.

The P4 setup in a laptop can be made to use power stepping like the mobile CPUs. The XPS actually has three fans. I don't use screen savers. This is defect in many Dell laptops that Dell refuses to fix. A hard drive that is currently spinning does not cause any load on the CPU or computer. That just means it is ready to access data immediately. Mine spin down after five minutes anyway.

You really need to go check your facts and assumptions. I have done the research on this already.